The Mirror
by ThisAccountKillsFascists
Summary: One-shot creepy story about the Mirror and Steven's decent into madness, me trying to be dark again. Rated T for imagery.


**Steven Universe: The Mirror**

There was a time that he could remember, a place that seemed so far away now. There was a time, way back then, that he'd felt as if the world was testing him, too cruel to leave him alone, too fickle to allow him to escape his fate. There was a time, so long gone, that she had thanked him, that she had given him a feeling that he could no longer remember, what that experience was like. She had made him feel special, like he had done a good deed. Oh, how he'd been so wrong. Oh, how he let it be.

The mirror, with it's deep blue gem, had seemed so unassuming at first, and Steven had been so sure that there was nothing more to this object than met the eye; he'd kept it, so reflective and beautiful, atop his dresser. He hadn't assumed that it might be a bad place to put such a mundane object, but during the night, when he wasn't using it for his history lessons, he'd began doubting himself.

At first, there was a distance to it, as though maybe he'd heard a whisper of wind through the window, a cry off in the distance of some lowly animal, searching for a mate. There was a feeling, and he'd woke up, his eyes casting at the Mirror as it shimmered in the moonlight. Steven had thought nothing of it, he'd gone back to sleep, he had not seen this moment for what it was.

Night by night it grew worse.

When he had first noticed the Mirror's true nature, he should have known then to cast it aside, to break it, to crush it, to burn it. There was nothing good about the Mirror, but he had been so naive.

He awoke the night of the first full moon of winter, his window had somehow been opened, snow blowing into his bed. He shivered, and closed it, and though the wind had gone he still felt a chill in his spine, and the Mirror called to him. The call of the Mirror was not something he could ignore. He went to it, and took it in his hand; it's smooth surface felt like cool water in the night, it captivated him as he gazed upon it's face. His eyes stared transfixed, a hex placed upon his mind as the first images appeared. Images he could not remember now, but images he knew were the most evil of them all.

He had seen the horrors of war, the fires of rebellion. He saw blood and murder, a knife plunging into a victim, he saw a Gem being tortured, he saw a dark cloud descend over a village, suffocating everyone inside. Then, he saw a face, it's eyes hollow, silver, and pale blue skin and hair, teeth as sharp as a shark's. It lasted only a moment, but it broke his concentration and he had dropped the Mirror, it clattered to the floor. But something compelled him to put it back on the dresser, and he had.

Again, in the night, it would call to him, and every night after that, it's strange trance whispering to him every time he looked in the Mirror's direction, every time he was asleep it would haunt his dreams, he had to look into the mirror. He had to see.

With each passing night, Steven found his sleep plagued more and more deeply by images of death; he saw now Pearl being strangled, he saw now Garnet torn in half, he saw Amethyst perish in fire. The nightmares never failed to wake him, and with each and every time he would open his eyes, he could hear it, the Mirror, as it promised him the world. He would go to it, and he would watch these images, and he would gaze, transfixed, at their horror. Nails being torn from their fingers, cups filled with blood, only for someone he knew to drink it, the Mayor burning the town... He began to hear the images, as well, the screams of pain, the dripping of bodily fluids, the gurgle of somebody becoming asphyxiated.

And night by night, it grew still even worse.

The madness which plagued him began to seep into the day, until his world was constantly night, he saw the visions everywhere. The face of his surrogate mothers would change, he could see them, deceased, rotting, coated in maggots and flies, he could see them, bloody, dying, choking on their own life.

But still the Mirror called to him, until finally, he saw the face once more. She stared at him from the Mirror, told him of the cure to his endless insanity.

In the Mirror, there was salvation, in the Mirror lay his true destiny. And she wanted him to let her out.

At first, he had resisted the temptations, when he would watch the images, he could hear her voice.

 _Let me out_ , it rang, and with each and every night, it grew louder.

When he had tried to do it, tried to cast aside the Mirror, he finally threw it through the window and into the snow, he would let it freeze, let it rot, let it turn to dust with the days. But he had been wrong, for the Mirror called to him, and it was a call he could not ignore.

In nothing more than his underwear he had gone, run to it, coveted it's jewel like it was a newborn, knelt there in the snow, his tears flowing, his apologies oozing from his lips. He couldn't sleep without it, he needed to see, he needed to hear, he had to hear her.

 _Let me out_ , she whispered to him.

 _LET ME OUT!_

The madness must end, he agreed, and sought to cure the horrid injustice. Cold, shivering, and wet, he knelt, and cold, shivering, and wet, did he rip that gem from it's cage. There came a sound, and a cold and bitter wind, and before him, the Gem of the Mirror, her shining, hollow eyes gazing upon him, her sharp, pointed teeth curled into a grin.

 _I love you, Steven._

The darkness overwhelmed him.

Now, here in this place, it had all gone away, now, here in this place, he felt no pain. He saw no light, he felt no hope, no love, no sorrow, no remorse. Here in this place, he was free of it all.

This was the Mirror, and it was all he knew now. And he would know it forever.

 **[Author's Note: This was my attempt to be creepy. Hope it worked, trying to get my darkness on. I want to do a far larger story for Steven Universe revolving around my favorite Gem, Lapis, and I'm hoping to make it as dark as these last two one-shots I've done for her. This one is inspired a bit by Edgar Allen Poe and Lovecraft, or at least that's the vibe I was going for, so lemme know how I did!]**


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